Prices continued to rise by mostly small amounts Tuesday as temperatures tended to increase slightly in most areas and the market got some extra support from a 10.7-cent increase by October futures from a day earlier.

Numbers were mostly flat to nearly 15 cents higher, with nearly all of the gains being less than a dime. Losses tended to range from 2-3 cents to a little more than 15 cents.

A futures advance of 0.4 cents was essentially neutral to cash market guidance for Wednesday (see related story).

More parts of the United States were scheduled to top out slightly above 90 Wednesday but start-of-September temperature would still be a little below normal.

Northern Natural Gas indicated how below-normal temperatures were entering the weather outlook; it said its normal system-weighted temperature of 67 degrees at this time of year was expected to hit 74 Tuesday and 72 Wednesday but then drop to 66 Thursday and 60 Friday.

A Texas-based marketer said he expects the heat forecasts to keep cash prices rising Wednesday.

SunTrust Robinson Humphrey analyst Cameron Horwitz expects a 56 Bcf storage injection to be reported for the preceding week, which he primarily attributes to a 3 Bcf/d week-on-week decline in gas-fired power generation as cooling degree days fell 14% sequentially. Stephen Smith of Stephen Smith Energy Associates projects a build of 49 Bcf, which he said was down from a previous estimate of 52 Bcf.

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